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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has warned Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, to desist from making statements that are capable of heating up the country.
The acting National President of NURTW, Alh Tajudeen Agbede, gave the warning while reacting to a communiqué issued by the NLC at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, on Friday.
In the communiqué, the NLC had threatened to commence a two-day nationwide warning strike on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 5 & 6, 2023, to demonstrate its readiness for an indefinite strike later in the month and to also demand that states vacate the “illegally occupied national headquarters of the NURTW.”
Reacting at the weekend, Agbede noted that the contents of the communiqué clearly showed that Ajaero and his team have lost touch with present reality in the country or are being blindfolded by political or ethnic considerations, adding that this is not a perfect time for any reasonable group or person to be nursing the idea of calling out workers on strike, when the majority of people are struggling to survive.
“I want Comrade Ajaero to realise that the duty of NLC is more than just dishing out strike threats all the time. I would advise him to start taking lessons from his predecessors, Comrades Ayuba Wabba, Adams Oshiomhole, etc on how to run a proper trade union organisation. The present administration of President Bola Tinubu is barely three months in office and Ajaero has threatened to go on strike on five different occasions. Haba! Our people in South West have started to read ethnic/ political meanings to NLC positions on Tinubu administration.
“We are seriously worried and disturbed by the latter day interest the NLC is showing in the affairs of our union lately. The crisis we are facing today would not have aggravated to this level if the NLC had given it the necessary attention ab initio.
”It is on record that aggrieved members and major stakeholders in our union wrote series of letters to the NLC to complain about the atrocities and highhandedness of Baruwa-led executive, but NLC did not react or act on those letters. Our members were ignored.
“If the NLC had given the letters the required attention at the initial stage, the crisis might have been nipped in the bud, but the NLC failed to respond/act,” he said.
Agbede also commended men of the Nigeria Police for their proactive position on the union’s matter, adding that the officers have been very professional in their approach, conduct and utterances since the NURTW crisis started.
“And to Baruwa, we would like to advise him to stop wasting his money and resources on a failed project, as the majority of our people have decided to move on with the Agbede-led NURTW. And of course, our members made a bold statement on Thursday at our first CWC meeting in Abuja where 80% of state councils and five out of the 6 zonal councils were in attendance. He should also bear in mind that at the appropriate time, he would be called upon to render account on how he managed the union funds, especially the money realised from the NURTW participation in the last general elections conducted by INEC,” he added.